Italian Ways: The spectacular Lame Rosse.

PS Mag: The Long Lasting Legacy of Droughts in Forests.

The effects of drought are deep and complex. Our tall pine and aspen forests are hanging on by a thread. At some point, more hardy species will take over. When the bark beetle killed the piñons in ‘03, our foothills here became denuded of >50% of their evergreen cover. The junipers have not made up the difference, so instead of green hills with small bits of rock showing, we have rocky foothills with clearly spotty tree cover. I look at photos I took pre-‘03, and it’s quite shocking. We get used to the ‘new look’ of things rather quickly, and forget even faster.

Guardian.UK: Arctic sea ice volume showed strong recovery in 2013.

Sliver of hope? The tendency these days is to attack any science that might forestall an extraordinary effort to counter climate change. I expect this to attract similar opposition. But if this means recovery could be rapid, wouldn’t that bolster a quick, powerful thrust to diminish global warming?

The National Weather Service says our drought is still receding ... but ...

If you dig in the earth, you’ll find the ground rock-hard about six-eight inches down. There may be plenty of water at the moment, but the longer-term, less-seen effects of drought are still manifest. It’s going to take a long period of wet years to undo what’s been done - and if we start getting dry again, it’s only going to allow drought to return with a vengeance.